Michele Campagnaro (; born 13 March 1993) is an Italian professional

rugby union player Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

who primarily plays

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

for

Colomiers Colomiers (; oc, Colomèrs; Languedocien dialect: ''Colomièrs'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Haute-Garonne Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania Regions of France, region in Southwester ...

of the

Pro D2 Rugby Pro D2, also known as Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was in ...

. He has also represented

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

at international level, having made his test debut against

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

during the 2013 Autumn Internationals. Campagnaro has previously played for clubs such as Benetton,

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. T ...

, and Harlequins in the past.

Club career

On his debut for Benetton against

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

in May 2013, Campagnaro was awarded man of the match. On 19 February 2015, Campagnaro signed for English club

in the

Aviva Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

on a two-year contract from the 2015–16 season. Campagnaro took a while to find his feet in the Chiefs' first team, scoring his first try for the club against the Cardiff Blues in the Anglo-Welsh Cup. He had a run of games in the number 13 jersey during January 2017 that saw him score six tries in four matches, including a hat-trick against

. He was a replacement as Exeter Chiefs defeated

to be crowned champions of the 2016-17 English Premiership. Following his departure from Exeter, he signed for

on a deal until the end of the 2018–19 season. On 19 March 2019, Campagnaro has signed for Harlequins from the 2019–20 season, after the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening match ...

. On 6 April 2021, Campagnaro would leave Harlequins as signed a two-year deal with

side

in France from the 2021-22 season.

International career

Campagnaro has caps for

including four appearances in the

2015 Rugby World Cup The 2015 Rugby World Cup was the eighth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial rugby union world championship. The tournament was hosted by England from 18 September to 31 October. Of the 20 countries competing in the World Cup in 2011, there was onl ...

and two in the

. He made his international debut vs

on 23 November 2013. He has captained Italy on one occasion, in a test match played in Chicago against Ireland during the 2018 Autumn test series; on the occasion, Campagnaro also scored the lone try of Italy, in a 54-7 defeat. He has scored nine tries for

including two in the Six Nations match between

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and Italy in 2014 which Wales won 23-15 despite Campagnaro scoring twice. Campagnaro won many plaudits for his

Man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

performance. He was injured for much of the 2015 Six Nations campaign. Campagnaro returned to the Italy team during the 2016 tournament and was one of the team's standout performers, in an otherwise disappointing campaign. In the 2017 Six Nations, Campagnaro came off the bench in the first two games against Wales and Ireland. He started Italy's third test of the championship against England at Twickenham. In the 59th minute of this game, Campagnaro scored a magnificent solo try which saw him evade challenges from both George Ford and Mike Brown.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Campagnaro, Michele 1993 births Living people Benetton Rugby players Italian rugby union players Rugby union centres Italy international rugby union players Sportspeople from the Metropolitan City of Venice People from Mirano Exeter Chiefs players Wasps RFC players Harlequin F.C. players